


Mother Tongue

by Anonymous



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Argo City (DCU), Bilingual Character(s), F/F, Misunderstandings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-19
Updated: 2020-02-19
Packaged: 2021-02-27 19:54:34
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,107
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22801315
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: Kryptonese is a language it’s very easy to make mistakes in. Unless you’re totally fluent, you might end up saying things you might not mean to.Alex visits Argo and Alura with Kara. Alura is...overwhelmed.
Relationships: Alex Danvers/Kara Danvers
Comments: 16
Kudos: 264
Collections: Anonymous





	Mother Tongue

**Author's Note:**

> I got bored. This happened.

Kryptonese was a complex language.

Well, Alura preferred the term ‘efficient,’ but it was true, a number of species that didn’t start learning it in childhood could struggle to grasp even the basics. It had been designed to convey as much information as possible in as short a time as possible.

Poets of Krypton likened it to art. Inflection, length, hesitation, all could alter the meaning of a word. As such, the sound _e_ might mean something different to _ee_ , and to _‘e_ , and to _e’e_ and to _e e_ … Yet to the untrained ear and tongue, those sounds might be near identical.

It allowed for a single word in Kryptonese to convey as much information as a sentence or paragraph in another language, even if they could generally only use it among themselves. They had a simplified version of the language to talk to outsiders.

“Greetings,” Alura said in human-English.

Kara was visiting, and she’d brought her sister to Argo with her. Alex. Alura addressed her with a Kryptonese title, two syllables long and yet conveying ‘one-who-is-close-to-the-one-I-prize, be-welcome-here.’

Kara responded with a syllable, detailing a little of their journey and thanking her. Alura smiled, and glanced at Alex.

“Ah, sorry, we should talk in English,” Alura said. “I didn’t mean to be rude.”

Alex’s eyes narrowed slightly.

“Kara did teach me,” Alex said, still in English. “I understand.”

“It’s fine, I know how complicated our language can be to learn.”

Alex paused. Then spoke Kryptonese.

“My tongue orally pleasured your daughter last night,” Alex said.

Alura blinked. Coughed. Out of the corner of her eye she spotted Kara go slightly pink; that… that was why she’d have preferred to use English. It took her a moment to unpack the words.

_Mairen_ and related words usually referred to body parts, _Maiure ‘n_ meant tongue, _M’a’ ayrr’en_ meant body, and unfortunately ‘pleasured’ and ‘welcome’ used the same root word, along with the temporal indicative, it was easy for references to points in time to blur together.

It could mean ‘I hope myself and your daughter are welcome today.’ A little clunky, but certainly more… reasonable. Alura hesitated.

“You’re… asking if you and Kara are welcome?” Alura said slowly.

Kara breathed a sigh of relief.

“Why? What else would I be saying?” Alex said innocently.

“It- doesn’t matter,” Alura said, emphatically keeping to English. “Come in. Please. _E’rlsaah_ , er, my home is your home.

* * *

After a few minutes of discussion, with Alura quickly trying to drag the conversation back into English any time Alex came out with something… inappropriate in Kryptonese, it was time for a meal.

“I hope you don’t mind local food,” Alura said. “We can’t really grow human crops here. I hope it’s okay.”

It came out a little more condescendingly than she meant. It wasn’t that she meant to critique Alex’s palette, just that it was an alien food source. Still, she felt Alex’s eyes bore into her slightly, and heard Alex reply in Kryptonese as if to make a point.

Unfortunately what she said was “I’m sure it’ll taste almost as good as Kara.”

Kara squeaked. Alura hastily sorted through variations. Adjectives of quality, maybe that was meant to be ‘with’ or ‘because…’

It’d be fine because Kara liked it, or because she was having a meal with family? Nice sentiments, certainly. Alura cleared her throat.

“Well, anyway…” Alura said, quickly leading the way to the table.

It was just the three of them. Alura served her guests, laying out a sizeable dish in the middle of the table; if one was to draw any comparison with human points of reference, it looked more like a giant purple onion than anything else, albeit one that, when cut, acted more like a joint of meat.

She served a little onto each plate, gesturing for them to take more if they felt like it, and waited for them to pick at whatever side dishes they wanted.

Alex took a little of each. Alura’s eyebrows rose, but she didn’t comment; it was hard to tell if she was being performative and trying too hard to blend in, or if she was just adventurous. Maybe a little of both.

Alura watched her curiously, trying to gauge the response; Alex glanced up, frowning when she saw.

“Is it to your taste?” Alura said.

“Not as good as bondage, but still nice,” Alex said.

More Kryptonese. Alura schooled her expression. Modifier on quality, and… maybe she was comparing it to some human dessert? As good as, or better than, something?

“That’s, er, good,” Alura said.

“I can’t wait to tie Kara up after this,” Alex said amiably.

Alura coughed, and decided to focus on eating her own meal. It was a bit tiring to keep going through the possible meanings.

When they were done, Alex crossed the table and extended her hand. Recognising the human custom, Alura gingerly took it to shake.

“Thank you for the meal,” Alex said in English, squeezing Alura’s hand with her own. Then in Kryptonese, “This is going inside your daughter later.”

Alura blinked, and quickly pulled her hand back.

“The… whole thing?” Kara said faintly.

Alura coughed, and didn’t even want to try mentally translating that.

“Yes, well,” Alura said, “You’re staying tonight? Let me know if the room’s not to your taste.”

Smiling gladly, and apparently obliviously, Alex thanked her before turning away

* * *

It was hours later, and Alex lay back, nestled in Kara’s arm and in the crook of her neck.

“We’re going to have to tell her eventually,” Kara said.

“What?” Alex said, in perfect Kryptonese, glancing back. “That we’re dating, or that I’m fluent?”

“Both,” Kara said. She flushed. “You shouldn’t have said… all that.”

“Maybe,” Alex admitted. “I… didn’t like how she looked at me. Like I have to be stupid. It was hard to resist.”

“She means well,” Kara said. “I think she’s just… overcautious.”

“I know,” Alex said. She sighed. “There’s a fine line between being welcoming and patronising.”

“I think you just surprised her,” Kara said. She hesitated. “Learning the language is impressive, I don’t think she wanted to push you if you weren’t.”

“Yeah, yeah, I’d prefer to be the judge,” Alex said.

She wriggled for a moment, and chuckled, leaning into Kara.

“Kind of worth it for the look on her face,” Alex said. "Besides, not like I lied to her. It's her fault she didn't understand."

Kara flushed.

“So, what you said…” Kara said.

“Consider it a teaser,” Alex said. She rolled over, smirking. “Why, want me to keep my word?”

“Absolutely,” Kara said, using the strongest emphasis on _yes please_ Kryptonese allowed.


End file.
